[ad_1]
Hundreds of fires rage across California, forcing tens of thousands of residents – who were already facing power outages and the coronavirus pandemic – to flee their homes. The flames, triggered by lightning and fueled by a blistering heat wave and fierce winds, moved rapidly, overwhelming firefighters and state first responders.
“It’s kind of a shattering fire seat,” said Daniel Swain, a climatologist at UCLA’s Institute of Environment and Sustainability.
The state is currently grappling with 367 known fires, Gavin Newsom reported at a press conference on Wednesday. “We are challenged right now,” the governor said. The state was struck by lightning 10,849 times in the 72 hours, he reported. The unusual thunderstorm and a historic heat wave have led to a particularly fierce fire season this year, officials said.
Asked how officials will simultaneously deal with the overlapping heat, fire and pandemic crises, Newsom replied, “The future happens here first.”
A cluster of wildfires in Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties now cover about 46,225 acres, according to Cal Fire, the state fire agency. The flames have destroyed at least 50 buildings and structures and remain largely unconfined, and come just three years after devastating fires that killed 22 people and destroyed many wineries in the region.
At dawn on Wednesday, firefighters and police went door to door in Vacaville, Solano County, rushing to evacuate residents. At least 50 structures were destroyed and four people were injured, officials said. TV reporters and local residents shared footage of roads, entirely flanked by flames, blackened earth and columns of smoke swirling through neighborhoods. The ashes sprinkled parts of the state, dusting the cities with gray.
Ash and soot, which has entered the state, is of particular concern amid the coronavirus pandemic – as air pollution has been shown to make people more susceptible to Covid-19.
Fires were burning in all Bay Area counties except the city of San Francisco. “So basically wherever there is land to burn, there is land on fire in the Bay Area,” Swain said.
In southern California, the lake fire northeast of Los Angeles has been raging for more than a week, spanning more than 21,000 acres. The Dome Fire devoured more than 43,000 acres, including the Mojave National Preserve near the California-Nevada border – burning ancient Joshua trees.
“All over the state of California right now, we’re exhausted for crews,” Will Powers, a state fire department spokesperson told the AP. “Air resources have been depleted statewide.” California is calling for help nationwide, searching for hundreds of fire engines and more than 1,000 crew and first responders.
On Tuesday, Newsom, the governor of California, declared a state of emergency, seeking to mobilize aid from both inside and outside California. “We are deploying all available resources to keep communities safe as California battles fires across the state in these extreme conditions,” Newsom said. “California and its federal and local partners are working together to meet the challenge and remain vigilant in the face of consistently hazardous weather conditions.”
The heat wave that started this weekend, and the rare thunderstorms that spawned even rarer fire tornadoes, “really set the stage for something that can be really catastrophic,” he said.
“The problem we are facing now is that there is no obvious way to control these fires,” said Chris Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, as they burn areas filled with dry wood and of brushwood. “It’s really hard to stop them once they pick up.”
The National Interagency Fire Center had warned of a higher risk of fires across much of the western and southwestern United States, with 2020 on track to be one of the busiest years. hottest and driest ever. This winter, not a single drop of rain fell in San Francisco and Sacramento in February – and a hot spring dried up vegetation fueling the fire in much of the state.
“We are at a time in California and the west where forest fires are likely to increase year on year, dramatically increasing due to climate change,” Field said. “This is going to be our new reality.”
[ad_2]
Source link